


Listening Ear; Princess

by MilayaMilenZeal



Series: Long Live the Queen [32]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Chatting buddies, Fishing buddies, M/M, Random kitty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 18:47:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13619460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MilayaMilenZeal/pseuds/MilayaMilenZeal
Summary: M.E. 779Sometimes, people just need someone from outside their circle of friends who will listen to their problems… the same goes for the two most stubborn people in existence, when the youngest needs a break from her overly worried auntie.





	Listening Ear; Princess

Regina’s never thought about things like dating, or even the concept of how babies came to be. It’s never been that important… hadn’t _seemed_ important. That is until five months ago, when her first period ever hit her.

 _Six_ , the talks that followed that day were a combination of embarrassing and just cringe.

Embarrassing from her Dad’s side, because _Astrals_ did her Dad get _embarrassed_ when talking about anything related to dealing with the human reproduction system. And cringe from Iris, because, _dammit_ she always insisted on _babying_ Regina. Iris’ ‘lessons’ often made it seem like Regina was helpless and needed to be extra careful lest she be molested (there was a new word to add to her vocabulary that her Dad had scolded Iris for, by the by). Her Dad had a bit more faith in her, thankfully, though he definitely asked her to be careful, but it was different when he did it, because Regina knows that her Dad doesn’t mean to put her down; he just wants to make sure she’s okay.

On top of that, Iris had been trying to get Regina to connect with some of her (older) female friends as of late, and while she hasn’t said it explicitly, Regina knows it’s because she’s still hopeful that Regina will accept one of them as a mother. Maybe it’s because she’s recently reached the point where she’s considered to be a ‘young woman’ rather than a girl, but whatever Iris’ reason, it’s getting annoying.

She doesn’t hate Iris, but yes, she’s very annoyed with her when she heads out one day, her fishing rod, bait box and bucket in hand, and she’s pretty sure it shows when she leaves. Her Dad asks her if she’s okay and Regina kinda snaps at him and says she’s fine and that she’s just going to do some fishing to cool her head before she actually does get angry with Iris.

It isn’t until she’s halfway to her usual spot that she sighs and sits down on a rock. Regina knows she probably shouldn’t have snapped at her Dad, and she probably should’ve said something to him about what Iris was doing ( _again!_ ), but her Dad’s too soft and she’s pretty sure he’d cave in, eventually.

Sometimes she wishes she could actually talk to someone about this… someone _not_ part of her friends and family and who would be able to offer her a new way of thinking (maybe).

“ _Bark!_ ”

Regina almost jumps at the bark – or maybe she actually did… a little… – and she snaps her gaze up to meet the bluish-green ones of a very pretty dog, mostly black with a bit of white on him, with what looks like a green bandana around his neck. He’s panting happily and wagging his tail as she looks at him, and she wonders absently where he came from. When she holds out her hand cautiously, because she’s not sure if he’ll bite her or not, he walks over and bumps her hand with his head with a happy bark.

“Hey there, lil guy,” she says with a smile. “Where’s your owner? Did you get lost?”

They didn’t often get visitors this far out, and when they did, it was very rarely, but never people with dogs. Not yet, anyway.

Suddenly the dog turns and starts to hurry off. Regina sighs as she sits back, realizing he must be heading back to his master.

“ _Bark bark!_ ”

Regina stares when the dog stops, turns to face her, and barks twice. When she doesn’t move after, he barks again, and then hurries back over to her and bites down on the hem of her shorts.

“Hey what gives!? Leggo!” she yelps as she stumbles to her feet, trying to keep her shorts on. But the dog won’t let up and keeps tugging until she’s forced to stumble after, though she somehow manages to grab all her supplies as she does. “Okay, okay! I’m coming!”

The dog barks again and goes ahead of her, and she grumbles a bit as she follows after, but she doesn’t really pay much attention where she’s going to. So it’s no surprise that, when she looks up, she doesn’t recognize the area.

“Huh…? Where am I?” she murmurs, just as she hears the dog barking up ahead. But as she comes into range…

“Ah, Umbra,” a man’s voice says with a slight laugh, which is followed by another bark. “…hm? No message from Luna? Then what brings you here?”

Regina blinks as she walks over, and quickly spots a man sitting at the edge of the water, dressed in black jeans, white shirt and a black cap. He doesn’t seem to have noticed her as he pats and ruffles the dog’s fur. She watches him for a moment, thinking. She’s not supposed to talk to strangers, but he seems to be okay; and the dog also likes him, so how bad can he be?

She adjusts her hold on her equipment and walks over before she speaks up. “Is he your dog, Mister?” she asks, and this makes him look up curiously. “You should teach him not to pull on people’s pants.”

“He did what…? Umbra, what was that for?” the man asks as he makes the dog look at him properly. “You shouldn’t bother strangers like that. Go apologize.”

Surprisingly, the dog whines and then walks over and, upon reaching her, bows his head with a small whine. She smiles at the gesture and reaches out to pat his head. Seemingly satisfied, the dog—Umbra, was it?—barks happily, and then moves back to the man. And that’s when she notices the equipment he has.

“Is this a good spot?” she asks, and when he looks at her oddly, she holds up her own supplies. “To fish,” she clarifies.

That seems to surprise him, and he looks at her with wide eyes. “Wait… You fish?!”

“Uh-huh!”

 

She’s invited to come over and share his fishing spot, and she accepts gratefully, and for the first ten to fifteen minutes, they’re talking about the kinds of fish that are out there exchanging tips and tricks on how to get the best catches. They haven’t exchanged names yet, but Regina doesn’t think she needs to know for them to get along well. They have fun and even when they don’t talk and are focused entirely on fishing, it’s certainly not unpleasant.

It’s when she’s throwing out another lure when he asks a more personal question. “Who taught you to fish?”

She blinks and then shrugs. “No one. I taught myself!”

“Really? That’s impressive.”

“Thanks! So who taught you?”

“Well, I had a teacher show me the basics, but I mostly do my own thing anyway.”

“Cool!”

They start talking about fishing again, and it’s cozy and Regina doesn’t really wanna go home yet. Especially not since Iris is gonna be there, most likely. It’s that distraction, though, that causes her to prick herself with a lure.

“ _Owie!_ ”

“You okay?”

“Uh-huh… I just… uh…”

She stops talking as she realizes the situation might be more complicated than she though; she hadn’t just pricked her finger, she’d actually pushed it into her finger much further than she’d thought initially. And yes, that causes a hint of panic to flare in her chest.

“Let me see… oh sh—s-shoot,” he says, and he moves over a little. “Here, let me help you.”

Regina knows that it’s not going to work for her to get the lure out herself, so she lets him take her hand and he starts to carefully remove the hook from her finger as she tries not to whimper. It doesn’t hurt as much as she thought it would, but it’s still far from pleasant.

“There. Gone.”

She smiles as he sets aside her lure and dabs at her wound with a handkerchief he pulled out from somewhere. It doesn’t hurt anymore, and for that she’s very glad. She’s never had that happen before, and she’s not too eager to have it happen again, so she promises herself to be more careful.

Once Regina’s put her lure on the line (properly) she tosses it out again. It lands with a small plop and they once again settle into silence as the man’s lure lands some distance away, well away from her own so they won’t accidentally go for the same fish. That would be silly, after all.

Silence settles over them then, and the only sound that fills it is that of the sea’s gentle roar of the waves as they strike the rocks below their feet. It’s, in a single world, pleasant, and neither of the two feel the need to speak to the other. They merely sit there and watch their lures as they bob, occasionally reeling it in a bit in an attempt to tempt the fish into a bite. Regina catches the first fish, and the man catches one almost immediately after.

Regina is giggling merrily at the size of the fish she’s just caught; it’s gotta be one of the bigger ones she’s caught thus far, and she’s pretty sure her Dad’s gonna be so proud of her catching it all on her own. Well, mostly… the man had to help her haul it to shore because it was a little too heavy for her to pull it up the whole way, since she’d used up a lot of energy to reel it in. So, once the fish is in her bucket (taking up most of the space in it) she says she’ll take it easy for a moment to gather her strength again.

The man smiles and tells her that that’d definitely be smart, before he casts out another line.

And while she sits there, she just watches him as he continues to fish, gently turning the reel every so often, completely focused on his ‘work’. Anyone else watching probably would’ve been bored real quick, but Regina watches quietly and with great interest as the lure bobs lazily on the water.

Fishing had always been a great passion of her, and anything having to do with it always had her immediate interest. While her Dad wasn’t that into fishing, he always let her do her thing when it came to fishing. Although to be fair, that extended to _most_ of the things she wanted to do, and most of the way she wanted to live her life…

…Iris, on the other hand…

She can’t help but sigh as she recalls her ‘aunt’ and her entire reason for even being here…

“Are you okay?” the man asks her, and she almost jumps in surprise as she snaps her gaze up.

He appears to be worried; the look on his face is almost the same as the one her Dad has whenever she gets hurt. And it kinda makes her feel bad for ruining things for him when he obviously came here to just enjoy himself.

“Uh-huh,” she says, nodding her head as she looks back ahead, hands between her knees and kicking out her feet.

She doesn’t want to bother him with her troubles. It really wouldn’t do to worry the nice man, because while they aren’t really friends, he’s still nice and doesn’t need to worry about her personal problems… as much as she wishes she could talk to him about it, if only to get it off her chest.

“Hey… if you need someone to talk to… I’m willing to listen.”

Regina blinks and looks up at him. He’s looking at her calmly, but the look in his eyes is kinda like her Dad’s, when he’s asking her what’s wrong and letting her know without saying as much that he’s there for her if she needs him to be. And normally, she’d have taken her Dad up on that, but with the situation with Iris… yeah, no way.

But does that mean she should just open up about everything to someone she doesn’t even know?

Her Dad would say ‘definitely not’.

“It’s nothing really…” she mumbles softly as she looks away.

“Okay, now I use that myself a lot, and every time I do, it’s not ‘nothing’, princess,” the man chuckles, before both of them freeze up in surprise. “Ah Six! That… that just came out. Sorry ‘bout that…”

Regina looks up at him as he rubs the back of his neck, looking a bit embarrassed, but she can’t help but watch him a little more. She doesn’t understand why he would call her _that_ , of all things, but it only serves to make her see him even more like her Dad. It’s funny… because she’s pretty sure this man’s a lot younger than her Dad, maybe around Iris’ age. And yet somehow the man reminds her so much of her Dad… it’s almost scary if she didn’t know the man to be as nice as he is.

After a moment more of just sitting there, she turns away from him and looks down at the water quietly.

“…my auntie’s trying to find me a mom…”

Maybe she shouldn’t have said that, but it’s too late now. The words are out, and all she can do is hope that he’ll be understanding of her annoyance with that situation.

“Huh…? Why would she do that?”

“…because she thinks I need a mom…”

Regina’s not expecting much from him in response. It’s a silly thing, after all, to grownups. As much as she wants to believe he’ll be on her side of the argument, she knows he likely won’t be. And that sucks…

“…That’s a load of hogwash.”

And then he says _that_ and she looks up at him in surprise.

“No offense meant to your aunt, but who’s she to decide what you _need_? If you don’t want a mom and you’re happy enough with just your dad, then who’s she to say you need to have a mom?”

Regina didn’t expect those words, and so it takes her a little longer to get what he's saying, but when she finally gets it, she can’t help the small smile that breaks out on her face,

“Really…?”

“Really-really,” he said with a warm smile, and her own smile grew in turn.

“So, it’s not… bad I don’t want a mom…?”

“Well, if it was… than I’d be going through the same thing as you,” the man admits just then.

This sudden knowledge makes Regina blink in surprise, and she looks up at the man in question, her head tilted to the side. They weren’t words she’d ever expected to hear from an adult, after all, because most adults don’t talk about their moms or dads. She still doesn’t understand why so much, but to be fair, she’s never minded that much. She just always figured they had a reason for it that she didn’t want to know.

But… this man was different.

“I don’t really remember my mother… I… lost her when I was even younger than you are now,” he admits, as he moves his fishing rod to the side. “My father didn’t talk about her often, either… probably because he missed her so much. I think he was afraid he would break out into tears if he talked about her too long.”

The small girl stares at him in surprise and, for a long time, she doesn’t say anything, but then she looks at him with a look that’s both sad and understanding.

“Was she… was she nice?”

“She was… Much as I don’t remember of her, I _do_ remember that, at least. My dad would tell me I looked like her a lot, but everyone else keeps saying I’m like him, so I’m not sure what to believe.”

“Don’t you have pictures? Dad has a lot of pictures! And he’s always making new ones!”

That makes the man laugh. “He does, huh? Reminds me of a friend of mine… he’s good at it, too. Maybe even the best around.”

“Nuh-uh! Dad’s the best of the best!”

“Oh, is he? I beg to disagree…”

“He is!!”

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

“…RAR!!”

“Wha—WHOA!!”

The man yowls as he’s suddenly on his back with Regina on his stomach. When she grins down at him, he smirks up at her.

“Oh, that’s it!”

And then he lunges forward and they both burst out laughing as he starts to tickle her mercilessly.

 

After almost ten full minutes of this, the pair finally sits back to talk a little more. Their initial fishing objective has been completely forgotten in favor of them simply talking. They talk about everything and nothing; their likes and dislikes, but mostly about their family. Regina knows that while Iggy and Gladio and Iris aren’t _really_ her family, but she knows that they’re close enough that she can call them her family. And despite how she hasn’t even talked to any of them about her… ‘Papa’ yet, she ends up bringing it up with this man. He doesn’t even seem to mind. In fact, he says he’s okay with the fact that her Dad likes another man, rather than a woman, as many would say was normal.

Which, eventually, leads back to Iris trying to hook up her Dad with a woman, because she _thinks_ she needs a mom… as well as the whole _dress_ fiasco…

“No offense to your auntie, but she sounds a bit pushy,” the man says after Regina admits that she hates wearing dresses, but that Iris kept trying to get her to wear dresses.

“Kinda…” Regina says as she shrugs her shoulders. “But… she’s family and… I know she really means well… maybe…”

The man laughs. “You don’t sound so sure…” he says, which earns him a pout, making him chuckle. “But yeah, I know what you mean… my… brother can also be pushy. Especially when it comes to vegetables.”

“Bleh… I dun like veggies… but I have to eat them or Dad doesn’t let me have meat…”

“Really? Wow… that’s kinda mean…”

“Kinda… but then Dad makes me a volcano.”

“Volcano?”

“Uh-huh. He mashes potatoes and veggies and makes a mountain with it. Then he makes a hole in the top and puts the gravy in.”

“Ooooohhh, I see. Huh… interesting…”

“Uh-huh. And if you put some more potatoes in there, you don’t taste the veggies as much!”

“Hmm… might have to try that sometime…”

Regina giggles, and the man smiles in turn. It takes a few moments for the conversation to pick up again, though, but when it does, it’s with a completely different subject.

“Man… all this talking is reminding me of the talks I’ve had with my best friend…”

“Your photo friend?”

“Hahah. Yeah, him.”

“You’re best-best friends?”

“Hmhmm. We’ve been friends for years, and I like to believe he’s my best friend of everyone.”

Regina gets the feeling like there’s more to what the man is saying, but she doesn’t bring this up. “Must be nice.”

“Yeah, it is…”

“…I wish I had someone like that…

Regina isn’t expecting the hand that comes down on top her head and ruffles her hair, so she lets out a yip in surprise.

“Don’t worry; sometimes it takes a bit, but I’m sure you’ll have your own best friend before long.”

“…really?”

“Yeah, for sure.”

For a moment, she doesn’t know what to say, but then she smiles up at him. “Thank you, Mister!”

“You’re very welcome, little miss.”

She’s about to say something else, though Regina doesn’t even remember what, but it’s lost when she hears something from behind at her bucket. And when she looks over, she can just see a black furry limb wave about from inside.

“Hey! Those are mine!” Regina cries as she scrambles over and reaches inside to pull the little cat out.

The small black kitty mewls as it’s lifted out of the bucket, its claws still clinging to one of the fish. It doesn’t seem disturbed at being picked up, likely because it still has the fish it was going for. Regina pouts a bit unhappily, but the man frowns as he takes in the small kitten.

“Don’t be too hard on the little guy,” he says, and when she looks at him, he continues. “He’s pretty skinny… he probably hasn’t had anything to eat for a while.”

That makes her eyes go wide, before realization hits and she looks down to the kitten as it starts to eat the fish. Regina doesn’t know how old the kitten is, but it looks just so little… so she thinks it has to be maybe a few weeks old. Then again, she isn’t very knowledgeable about cats.

“…where’s his Mommy, you think?” she asks after a moment.

“I don’t know…” he admits softly, reaching out to lightly scratch it behind its ear. “He… might not have one anymore… if he’s here alone…”

Silence befalls them for a few moments, but finally, Regina smiles softly. “So… now there’s three of us, huh?”

The man blinks, but then he smiles when he realizes what she means. “Heh… yeah, there are.”

They spend almost 20 minutes simply petting and feeding the kitty, and when the little guy’s finally had enough, it goes to happily curl up and nap in the little girl’s lap, much to her enjoyment. However, when she looks down at her bucket, she pouts.

The man looks at her bucket as well, and he obviously notices that it’s a lot more empty than it was before they’d come across the kitty (or the kitty had come across them, really).

“I see… want me to get you some extra to take home?”

The sudden question makes her look up at him curiously. He smiles at her, though, as he stands up and pulls out something from his pocket. What he pulls out looks like a silver lure of some kind. He attaches it to his rod, and then, as he stands, he arches his arm and then casts his line out again.

It plops down on the water, and for several long moments, the only movement is the man flicking the reel on occasion. And then, after only a few moments, there was a tug on the line.

“Gotcha!” the man laughs as he starts to work the rod to get the fish to shore. Regina actually squeals and starts cheering, trying to not move too much for the kitty’s sake.

After only five minutes, the man pulls a large fish up from the water and Regina smiles in awe. “Wowie! So big!!”

“Yep.” Smiling, he walks over and passes it to her. “Think you can get this one home alone, later? Or want me to help you get it home?”

Regina looks down to the big fish for a moment. She’s pretty sure she won’t be able to carry it all the way home with her… as much as she’d love to. So…

“…can you help me, Mister?”

“Hahah. Sure. Lemme just tell my friends I’ll be back later…”

The small girl watches as he pulls out a phone from his pocket. After unlocking it and tapping the screen a few times, he brings it up to his ear.

“Hey, Specs. Listen, I ran into a lost kid here. I’m gonna get her home real quick and then I’ll come back to camp, kay?”

The nickname, of course, makes Regina tilt her head curiously, but she doesn’t say anything as the man listens to the other side of the conversation.

“Yes, _Mom_ ,” the man chuckles out.

The quip makes Regina blink in surprise.

After hanging up, he looks to Regina, and he smiles at her confusion. “He worries a lot… so I sometimes call him ‘Mom’, as a joke.”

“Oooooh! Okay!”

After sharing a giggle/chuckle, Regina climbs up to her feet, still holding the kitten close. She isn’t initially sure what she’ll do with the kitten, but she’s hoping that she can convince her Dad to take him in. She’s sure she can convince him to accept, but it would probably take some careful consideration of her words. She really hoped it would be okay…

Finally, though, they get to familiar territory and Regina is smiling happily at the familiar sight of her own home. “It’s over there!” she chirps, pointing.

“Good,” he says with a smile.

Before either of the two have the opportunity to say anything else, though, a third voice calls out.

“Ooooy!! Regiiiii!!”

Regina blinks and looks up, but then she smiles as a familiar face comes over. “Terry!!”

The taller redhead came running over easily, despite the terrain and her leg, a big grin on her face as she approaches. “Was in the neighborhood and figured I’d come see ya, but your Pa said you were out fishing again!”

“In the neighborhood?? You live in Lestallum!”

“…So what’s your point?”

Regina sighs, before she blinks when she hears the man chuckle, making her look up. However, he just shakes his head with a smile, before he looks to Terry.

“Say, can I ask you something?”

“Huh??”

“Can you help your friend with getting this stuff home?” he asks her, gesturing for all the girl’s gear and the fish he’s still carrying. “She’s got her hands full right now.”

“Yeah I noticed…” the girl mumbles before she grins. “Sure!”

The man is smiling even as Terry effortlessly lifts up the gear and the fish all in one go. “Wow… you're pretty strong, aren't you?”

“No duh! I'm gonna be a hunter one-a these days! So I gotta build up!” Terry quips with a big grin and the man laughs a bit.

“Good on you,” he says with a nod. “Well, good luck on that.”

“Thanks!” is the quick, hyper response, before Terry hurries off.

As she hurries off, Regina watches her carry the huge fish over her shoulder. She tries not to let her emotions show too much, but apparently she failed at that, since the man crouches down to her level.

“Hey… you okay?” he asks her.

“…” She doesn’t answer right away; she only bites her lip for a brief moment. But then… “…Hey, Mister?”

“Yeah?”

“…do you think I can catch a fish that big someday?”

He tilts his head briefly, before he smiles. “Yeah, sure. I don’t see why not. …in fact…” He pauses to reach into his pocket, and he then pulls out the same silver lure from before. “Here.”

Regina’s eyes widen in alarm. “Huh…?”

“Go ahead; take it.”

“But… but that’s yours, Mister!”

“I know… and now I’m giving it to you.”

She hesitates, looking back and forth between him and the lure. But, finally, she reaches out and takes the lure in her hand.

“…thank you, Mister…”

“You’re welcome, little miss.” He reaches out then and turns her around. “Now go on. Your Dad’s probably waiting for you.”

She blinks a bit, before she smiles warmly. Then she nods her head and starts heading off. “Thank you, mister! See you again, kay?!”

He laughs warmly as he waves at her. “Sure thing. Let’s fish again sometime.”

Regina giggles happily, before she turns and hurries after Terry again. She doesn’t even look back as the man stands up and walks away, with Umbra going after him.

When she arrives back at the house shortly after Terry, her Dad hurries out of the house, looking more than a little worried.

“Regina!” he calls out, hurrying over to her and dropping down to her level. “I’m _so_ sorry, sweetie… I honestly thought that Iris had learned from last time… I’m sorry. Forgive me?”

Oh. So he noticed, too? Well… that’s good. At least she won’t have to worry about Iris trying to get her set up with a “mom” again.

His last words make her stop and think, though. And then, she has an idea.

“Kay… on one condition!”

That clearly worries him, but he bites his lip and then sighs. “Okay… what is it, princess?”

Smiling brightly, she adjusts her hands, and then holds up the kitten she still held in her hands. “We keep Noxie! Kay?”

Her Dad blinks, twice, looking at the kitten as it looks up at him sleepily, and then mewls. However, he then smiles and laughs. “Yeah, sure, sweetie,” he says, lightly running his fingers over the cat’s head. “Where’d you get this little one?”

“He found us!”

“…‘us’?”

“Oh! I made a fishing buddy! He helped me catch fish!”

He frowns a bit, probably because he’s worried about her, and she can understand that, but in the end, he merely smiles at her with a small sigh. “Heh… I’m glad you were able to make another friend, sweetie.”

She allows a big smile of her own, as she hurries after her Dad into the house, where Terry’s already put everything away. She doesn’t stick around long; she has to get back home, soon, so Gladio ends up taking her back to Lestallum, since he has a mission there to finish. After dinner, she scampers off to bed, with her newest little buddy clambering after her and onto the bed with a small mewl.

When she goes to bed that night, she can’t help but think back on her new friend. And she absently hopes she’ll meet him again someday…

**Author's Note:**

> Huh... that was a curious meeting.


End file.
